Month: December 2019

I opened my eyes two days ago to the first snowfall of the year! What a beautiful sight, indeed, was that first morning glimpse out the window…a Christmas card image come to life. I fixed my coffee and curled up next to kitty on my pink couch to soak in the view… beautiful images of birds flitting, branches lightly dusted with snow, and geese flying in the distance over the creek. Incredibly, with all that unspoiled beauty before my eyes, my mind’s eye kept returning to spoiled soup!

Spoiled Soup?! Yes, spoiled soup! I have a bit of an addiction to a particular pumpkin soup recipe a friend from church shared with us…not sweet, but spicy with the addition of red pepper flakes. I have made this soup more times than I can count, much to my husband’s dismay, but this particular batch I made for the first time with an actual roasted pumpkin, not from a Libby’s can. Yes, I was quite proud and enjoyed one delicious bowl before putting it away to enjoy even more the next day. Everyone knows that soup is so much better the next day, when the flavors have really had a chance to meld together.

And so, when a certain son got it out for a late-night snack before I headed off to bed, I left him with one simple plea…”please, please, don’t forget to put it back so it doesn’t spoil.” Off to bed I went, and as often happens when I go to bed too early, I lay awake thinking, and all I could think of on this particular night was that pumpkin soup. Did he put it away, should I go check…

Finally I dozed off, forgetting the pumpkin soup… surely he had put it away.

No doubt, you all know by now that the first thing I saw when my sleepy eyes reached the kitchen early the next morning, was that left-out pot of pumpkin soup. Oh, coffee, I thought, just take me away!

Slowly sipping my coffee, doing my usual morning stare, my mind left the pumpkin soup, venturing several weeks ahead to when we would be driving this soup-spoiling son to a college 3-days drive away. Suddenly, soup really was not that important. Flashes of him as a child now took over my mind, along with the realization that I would take spoiled soup every day for the rest of my life for just one more moment of both my sons’ childhood years back.

One more sunny day building drip-castles at the beach, one more trip to the zoo, feeding and chasing the geese, one more bicycle ride around a nature trail, one more time their chubby little hands held tightly onto mine, one more invasion into the house with a muddy frog in tow, one more Christmas morning of them running down the steps in their little footie pajamas….

Anson feeling safer watching from table-top:)

The list could go on and on. But, as soup is good for just a little while, so it is with childhood. Time marches on, like it or not, and so we let go and pray we have done our best, releasing them into God’s hands to guide, direct and bring back safely again.

For three years in a row I had the pleasure of heading to West Virginia with two friends for a girls get-away weekend. After breakfast, we would pack our lunch and head to that day’s designated hiking spot, and usually not return before late afternoon or sunset.

On one particular hike one of my friends asked what we each saw as our unique giftings. I actually wasn’t sure how to answer at this weird stage in my life, when empty nest syndrome has started to kick in bit by bit. One friend brought up my singing, which had always been my number one passion, but, that has changed through the years with raising a family. My other friend asked me about the healthy products I like to make for myself and friends and asked why I didn’t consider doing it as more than just a hobby.

Long story short, she and our other friend encouraged me to follow that passion, and two years later it has come to fruition! I really wasn’t sure about sharing it here on the blog because we have all been “spammed” by one business or another, and I truly care about my blogging friends. But, I also share what is going on in my life in other ways, and know that some of you are actually into this kind of lifestyle as well. And, hopefully it will explain why I don’t always keep up with reading and writing on here as much as before!

Yes, that’s my creek. I never knew that wonderful day I spent on the creek would create a picture for a website cover, but life can be like that!

Until next time…

follow what you’re passionate about…you never know where it may lead.

∼Jen

Welcome!

Fields to forest, creek to ocean, I’m blessed to live in an area where the wonder of nature abounds. From the unfurling of the tiniest leaf to the majestic eagles that grace the sky, I am in constant awe of the creation we are surrounded by and even more the Creator of them all.
Join me, and let’s enjoy these gifts of beauty together!